Allure Perspectives

Dr. Lisa Cassileth is a breast surgeon in Beverly Hills, which, according to her, means encountering “so many bad boob jobs.” But repairing someone else’s questionable handiwork happens to be one of Dr. Cassileth’s specialties, along with innovative reconstructions and other thoughtful surgical developments that prioritize positive patient outcomes and well-being. Dr. Cassileth was the first female chief of plastic surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and has started two practices of her own. 

“Women aren’t really getting breast reductions as much as they used to,” Dr. Cassileth tells Jessica Cruel, host of the Perspectives podcast and edi...

Ericka Hart is in the next phase of her lifelong sex education. Starting as a curious and resourceful teenager, looking for answers to supplement her abstinence-only sex-ed class, Hart built on her knowledge when she was diagnosed, at 28, with breast cancer. Until her diagnosis, Hart had never really thought about her breasts. “They really felt like they were in service to other people,” she says. That changed post-treatment when she went topless at a music festival in 2016, publicly displaying her mastectomy scars: “I just wanted people…to see me and my scars, and to see what breast cancer looks like in...

You can’t talk about breasts without talking about bras. So Jessica Cruel, Allure’s editor in chief, went to the source: Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Dr. Steele is a pioneer in the field of fashion studies and that the clothes we wear–and what we wear underneath them–merit serious attention. She’s also the author of a book tracing the cultural history of the corset and how it influenced the development of other shapewear. Cue: the bra.

Bras started to show up...

Actor Olivia Munn is no stranger to the spotlight, but in recent years, after the birth of her first child and a breast cancer diagnosis, things have looked a little different for her—a reality Munn is bravely leaning into. “When I get asked about any part of my health journey,” Munn tells Allure’s editor in chief Jessica Cruel, “it feels like I have purpose now.” 

Munn walks Cruel through the physical and emotional challenges that came with the joys of her new motherhood. Munn was determined to breastfeed her son, Malcolm, but after working with multiple lact...

The inaugural season of Allure Perspectives will explore one of the most controversial and medically researched parts of a woman’s body: breasts. Through expert interviews, personal stories, and historical context, the series, hosted by editor in chief Jessica Cruel, will examine how breasts intersect with beauty, health, identity, sexuality, and culture.

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